Frontier of Ashes
by audiopilot
Summary: An alien epidemic leaves Jack struggling to protect his sister against infection, roving gangs, and strange shadows. After an accident separates them he'll do anything to find her again, even work with a group of mysterious weirdos, but what if the danger comes now from himself? AU, gen, warnings inside.
1. Prologue

_Notes: I don't know where this is going, but the idea wouldn't leave me alone! I haven't written anything in a couple years so... yeah. Sort of a zombie AU— there's definitely a lot of inspiration from the genre, along with Silent Hill and various creepypasta. I went with the name Emma for Jack's sister because it sounded better to me than anything else. Warnings for violence and character death. 23/05/13 EDIT - I'm currently rewriting parts of the story and added a bit to the prologue._

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**Frontier of Ashes**

**Prologue**

It was a moonless night when an ordinary shadow in an ordinary park impossibly split open.

The faint sounds of the nocturnal creatures ceased as they scattered and the soft rustling of the treetop breeze ceased. Even the distant sound of passing car was suddenly muted. A homeless man stopped snoring, rolling over on the bench he used as a bed. Nearby, the lamp post's light flickered.

In the silence a tall figure slipped out. It was easy to mistake for just another tree's shadow, long-limbed and stretched thin, until two golden eyes blinked open, darting back and forth. Searching, until they caught sight of the sleeping man. It glided over to loom over him.

"Yes, you will do," it whispered, reaching out to gently touch the man's face, fingertips leaving trails of ash that sunk into his skin. He shivered, grimacing, but did not awaken as the figure chuckled.

A smile of sharp teeth flashed, there and gone, as the figure melted back into the trees as quickly as it appeared.

There was something different about the shadows, now. They trembled and then stilled, as if to take a deep, anticipatory breath.

* * *

_Six Months Later..._

When Jack was a kid sleep was a stupid thing. His days, spent running around the nearby woods with his friends, were too full of a million possible adventures and fun things to find to end so quickly when the sun went down. That meant his parents often chased him around when it was bedtime, a hide-and-seek that ended with tickling and pillow fights. Then, tired but still unwilling to close his eyes, his mom or dad would tell stories and sing lullabies until he finally dozed off. Eventually, Jack was able to fall asleep without these things, and when Emma came along she was usually out before anyone could even get her to bed.

So Jack hadn't heart a lullaby in a long time, but somehow that was the first idea to pop into his head as he watched his younger sister stare into the darkness and try and smother her coughing.

"You want me to sing you something?" Jack asked, whispering. There wasn't really a point in being quiet, but it felt safer. Emma shifted to look up at him from where she sat sideways in his lap, eyes a little wide as she nodded and Jack grinned. "Okay, but you can't make fun of me!"

"Then sing something good!" Emma exclaimed.

"Hey, anything I do will be, because _I'm_ the one singing it."

Emma smiled as Jack wracked his memories for the old lullabies their mom and dad would sing to him. He glanced up to the window and the night sky beyond it. There was always twinkle twinkle little star, right?

He had to cycle through a few different nursery rhymes, humming when he couldn't remember the words, until Emma's face relaxed into sleep. Sighing, Jack glanced around the tiny space they'd been trapped in; there was barely enough room for himself.

It was the laundry room of a townhouse Jack had scouted out earlier in the day, with not much in it besides bottles of detergent and lint bunnies. He'd shoved the washing machine in front of the door, leaving the opposite corner free for Jack to slump in with Emma across his lap, pressed between the walls and cool metal of the dryer. How had anyone done their laundry in such a cramped space?

At least there was a single, high window to let in enough moonlight to chase away the dark.

Normally the siblings camped among the water towers and chimneys of the rooftops, avoiding other people during the day and the shadows at night, but the evenings were growing colder as summer gave way to fall. Plus, Jack didn't want to take the chance that staying outdoors would worsen the cough Emma had, and chose the empty townhouse to stay in, but while rummaging around the kitchen for food they'd found it no longer empty.

He'd grabbed his sister and made for the attic, to escape out the vent they'd come in through, but they hadn't made it in time, and were forced to wait them out in the laundry room Jack had dashed into instead.

If it had been a shadow they might not have made it, but it had just been one of the leftovers of whoever was unlucky enough to get caught. Jack didn't know what to call them: zombies, or monsters, or simply the dead? None of it covered the _wrongness_ of them.

Jack pushed a foot against their backpack, flexing his toes. He wanted to turn on a flashlight, but it would be a waste of batteries. Artificial light could ward off the shadows as easily as natural light, but the _thing _outside wouldn't be deterred from a hunt by even the brightest flashlight. Something brother and sister knew too well— Jack squeezed his itchy, dry eyes shut and breathed past the lump in his throat, head throbbing.

The only safe option was to wait it out, but that left him with not much to do but think and there was a lot he didn't want to think about these days.

Jack's butt was already numbed from Emma's weight; he didn't dare move in case it woke up, and her heaviness was reassuring in a way... food was getting harder to find. All they had left in their pack was a half-empty bag of trail mix and a package of crackers that were tasteless and stale. They'd had their last can of fruit cocktail for breakfast that morning. Not that Jack liked carrying canned food around anyway— it weighed him down when he jumped between rooftops.

His eyes shot open when Emma barked out a cough, then kicked Jack in the thigh as she tried to roll over in her sleep, and he took the opportunity to slump a little and get more comfortable. He pushed her dirty hair out of her face to press the back of his hand to her forehead, unable to tell if she felt too hot or too cold. Maybe they could find somewhere to bathe after they'd gathered more food. He didn't know how much of the woods were left, but the lake might still be there. In the summers they'd go out there to swim, and last winter they'd gone ice skating on it.

They needed heavier jackets, too, and more medicine beside the aspirin and nausea tablets he'd found someone's medicine cabinet to refill their nearly-empty first aid kit. Approaching a pharmacy or grocery was a huge risk, because if they hadn't been looted they would be guarded. Jack still had the bruises from when he'd tried a gas station last week and found it occupied by a gang of unfriendly survivors. Luckily, he'd had Emma stay up on the roof that time.

The list of everything they needed, everything they didn't have, grew longer every day even as what was available dwindled down into the hungry mouths of those who were left.

And he kept making mistakes.

Jack stared up at what he could see of the moon and tried to think of the right choice.

Outside, he could hear _it_ scratching at the blocked door, whimpering to be let inside.


	2. Chapter 1

_Notes: Thanks for the review and follows, haha! I forgot to mention the title is from a line of Octavio Paz's poem, Preparatory Exercise, that goes: "At the hour of darkness, who waits for us on the frontier of ashes?"_

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**Frontier of Ashes**

**Chapter 1**

Jack woke to sunshine in his face, body now slouched uncomfortably in the corner where he'd somehow fallen asleep. Emma had rolled off his lap at some point and was now squished between him and the dryer with her face buried in his side. A good thing, too, as he'd gotten hard in his sleep. Sometimes being a teenager sucked.

Looking at his sister got rid of that fast, in the daylight her cheeks were two red spots of color in her pale face. He stood carefully and stretched, rubbing at the back of his sore neck, before hopping up onto the dryer to look out the window. Besides some tree branches and a lot of blue sky he couldn't see much, but he listened for a few minutes for any suspicious noises.

He shook Emma awake and grinned at her grumpy face as she sat up. Emma really wasn't a morning person, as his mom would say. Would've said.

"Let's go, sleepyhead!" Jack exclaimed as he rummaged through their stuff for water and something for breakfast.

"Go where?" Emma asked, rubbing at her eyes. Her voice sounded rough and Jack frowned as he bit into the tough, dried fruit. She was getting worse, not better.

"I want to check the other ones. Eat some of this."

Jack moved the washer out of the way as she did. It took a couple tries, it was heavy and hard to get any leverage in the cramped room. How he'd managed last night was a mystery. He glanced at Emma and she put their things away and stood, ready, while he opened the door slowly and peeked out. The hallway looked empty. He leaned out a little more, bracing himself on the doorjamb and winced as something sharp bit into his palm. The frame and the door itself had deep gouges in the wood, splinters poking out. There were dark marks, too, smudges like charcoal, but none anywhere the door knob. It looked like they'd gotten bored and wandered off after being unable to figure that one out, thankfully.

They went to the bathroom and quickly washed up though the tap didn't work here, so they had to use some of their bottled water. There was an almost full thing of toothpaste under the counter and Jack got out their toothbrushes and made Emma brush her teeth before stuffing it in their bag.

"Why do I have to?" Emma whined, then coughed, and Jack leaned away and waved at the air in front of his face.

"Because your breath stinks."

"No, it doesn't!"

"Yeah, it does! It smells like butt," Jack grinned.

"_You_ smell like butt."

"Look, if you don't your teeth will fall out, and _I'm_ not chewing your food for you."

Emma brushed her teeth thoughtfully and then asked, "Like baby birds?" She smacked her lips, spitting toothpaste all over the place, and made what Jack guessed were supposed to be baby bird cheeps and not the demonic squeaking it actually sounded like. _  
_

They went up into the attic and out through the vent that had seemed so far away last night. It was a tough fit, but Jack was still thin enough that he could make it. Outside, it was warm and sunny and the only shadows around were faint and empty. The streets below still held no cars or signs of anyone. It was why Jack had picked this place, hoping it meant nobody or thing would be around.

The tree branch Jack carried around was still on the roof, too, and he picked it up as they walked farther down until they were over the next townhouse. It was a row of four of them and they all shared one roof, so it made it easy. The only openings they could find were a few pipes so Jack went to the edge to look upside down for the nearest window. Most people hadn't lock their upper story windows.

"Stay here," Jack told Emma as he pulled out the drawstring bag he used while gathering supplies and handed her their backpack. Emma gave him a look as if to say _'duh'_ as she sat down, and Jack laughed as he crouched on the eave and tested his grip. He was a pretty good climber, mostly trees, but he'd gotten in scolded many times before for climbing buildings before. He didn't have to worry about getting in trouble with his parents for trespassing now; anyone who found him wouldn't be calling the cops, that was for sure.

Jack swung down and let momentum carry his feet to the window's ledge, catching his hands on the frame even as he smacked into the glass.

"Whoops."

"Jack?" Emma worriedly asked.

"Fine! I'm fine," Jack called up as he looked through the inside blinds. The room looked empty enough, and nothing had come running at the noise so he began the awkward push and shuffle of opening the window while keeping his balance on the tiny ledge. Good thing he wasn't afraid of heights! Once he got it open enough, Jack whistled a bit and waited to see if anything responded. Those two from last night could have came in here instead. When nothing did, he dropped to the floor and noticed the bedroom he'd landed in was a kid's room: bright blue walls and a small bed with a definite race car theme.

Jack tip-toed out into the hallway and made his way towards first the master bathroom, and then the kitchen; the two places most likely to have what they needed. Sometimes he'd go through the storage closets for camping stuff because they really needed a strong, portable lamp. On his way out, Jack paused when he saw a metal baseball bat, thinking. He pushed it sideways through the straps at his back after going out the window and then used a gutter pipe to climb his way back up onto the roof.

"Look what I got," Jack said to Emma, twirling the bat around with a flourish. She looked at it, and then him, with a supremely bored expression and Jack added, "For you."

"I don't know how to play baseball," she pouted.

"I can teach you, and you just need to know to swing."

Emma looked a little worried at that, but she carried it around as Jack went through each of the other homes. All in all, he'd found some cough medicine and allergy pills, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, a pack of batteries, some snacks and an unopened jar of pickles. He also got Emma a dark brown sweater and a thicker pair of socks. It was hard to decide what to take and what to leave. There was only so much they could carry, and he still felt a little weird going through peoples' things. Not to mention he didn't have that much time to think about it. Jack didn't like leaving Emma alone too long, and the longer he stayed in a place the more it felt like the walls were getting closer and closer, and the shadows darker and darker.

They sat afterwards and Jack made Emma take the cough medicine before they went over what he'd found, but hadn't taken, while she wrote it down in her notebook. It was her idea, to keep track of things they could come back and get, and to map out where they had and hadn't been. It helped to know that Emma could find her way without him, even if she needed more practice hopping roofs.

"All right, so how do you think we can get up there?" Jack asked, pointing at a nearby building as he slung the backpack on, pulling the straps tight. Only a small alley separated it from the townhouses and it had large windows with inch-wide ledges and not much else.

"Um," Emma squinted at it. "Jump?"

"Nope! We're too uneven with those windows, see? And we're not close enough to grab anything. If you're not sure you can make it, you shouldn't try it."

If anyone had heard Jackson Overland saying _that_ they would've thought the world was ending. Jack was known for recklessly doing first and maybe-sometimes asking questions later, so he had to imagine what his teachers or parents would do a lot. And no one was around to hear it but Emma, and the world wasn't in that great of shape anyway.

Well, Jack probably would have tried for it if he'd been alone, but Emma couldn't and he didn't want her to fall.

"So we go down?" Emma asked, scratching her arm.

"Yeah. How're you feeling? Is that stuff working?" She hadn't coughed in a while, but she still looked a little sick. If they had to run then Jack would be carrying her.

"I don't know..."

Jack glanced down into the alley, which had some trashcans and a wooden fence to separate it from the street. There wasn't a way to get into it from the house they were standing on top of, but the building across had a door... that was open. Jack stared. Hadn't that been closed, before?

"Give it to me!" someone shouted and Jack dropped flat, yanking Emma down with him when she hesitated.

"What?" Emma whispered, and Jack put a finger to his lips as he scooted closer to the edge to look just in time to see someone come stumbling out the open door.

It was a man, haggard and thin, the exposed skin of his arms covered in scratches that were bleeding black.

_Infected_, Jack realized, and shuddered.

Another man followed him out, and Jack blinked because _he were covered in fur_. It must have been a costume, but why anyone was running around dressed as a giant rabbit was lost on Jack. He even had the ears... and huge feet. Emma poked him from where she'd gotten closer too, and they shared a bewildered look.

"Look, mate, it's a lost cause so rack off," Rabbit Guy replied, obviously annoyed.

"I need it! You can't take it away!" the other man howled and ignored Rabbit Guy's, "Shut up!" to lunge forward, hands grasping with fingertips already darkened with shadow-rot. Rabbit Guy dodged so fluidly it was like he was dancing as the infected man missed, falling to the ground on his hands and knees. He moaned, then started to gasp for breath, back heaving.

"Watch it," Rabbit Guy snapped, and Jack thought he saw those long ears twitch. The infected man was soon back on his feet, crying with great big sobs like a little kid, and Jack couldn't look away as he started scratching at his own face. Jack stopped breathing, temples throbbing with the pulse of his own blood as he saw the skin peal away to reveal what was underneath.

Rabbit Guy mumbled something and then moved so fast he was a blur as he kicked him in the stomach. Both Jack and Emma flinched at the loud bang as the infected man flew several feet backwards into the trashcans, scattering garbage everywhere. He walked over, pulling something from the belt he was wearing and stood over the crying man. Whatever was in Rabbit Guy's hand was brightly colored and round, and when he dropped it onto the other man it cracked open and whatever was inside began to melt down _into_ him.

The infected man struggled for a few seconds, hissing as gold light poured out of his eyes.

Then he stilled, seizing as a dark shadow double spread out on the concrete underneath his body. Jack felt Emma grab at his arm as it writhed, but it must have been trapped because it didn't attack Rabbit Guy or even try to escape into the faint, daylight shadows. Instead it twisted into huge hands with sharp fingers that clawed the air before it snapped into spikes and then softened into a round blob with rippling edges.

They all watched as the shadow shivered and then was almost audibly slurped back into the man's body, who sighed and relaxed, the gold light flickering out as he closed his eyes. Was he dead? Jack wasn't sure, he'd never seen anything like this, and he'd seen a lot of weird things.

Emma's sudden cough was loud in the silence and everything froze for a moment before Rabbit Guy looked around.

"Who's there?" he demanded and Jack pushed back from the roof and grabbed Emma as he ran to the opposite end. She stumbled, still carrying the baseball bat and Jack picked her up before taking a running leap over to the roof they'd jumped from yesterday.

Emma clung hard, and he landed awkwardly under their combined weight, but he ignored the pain that shot up his legs as he backtracked the route they'd taken before, moving so fast he was almost flying. Jack ran and ran until he had no choice but to stop, panting as he shakily put Emma down, rubbing her back when she coughed. He looked behind them, but nothing had given chase.

"Jack," she wheezed, eyes wide. "What was that?"

Eyes equally as wide, Jack shook his head, "I don't know, but I know we need to get out of here."

"But he made it go away," Emma protested.

"He was dressed like a giant rabbit, and not a friendly one," Jack retorted, stretching his legs and checking their surroundings again, ignoring Emma's unhappy look. His pounding heart felt too big for his chest. He could still see the light bursting from hollow eyes, but it wasn't the infected man he was thinking about.

A metallic, scratching noise made him look down to see that Emma still had the bat, and was dragging it in circles over the flat rooftop where they'd stopped. Surprisingly, she hadn't dropped it in their quick escape. He watched her for a moment, thinking again of going to the lake. There wasn't much for shelter there, but being away from town would make it harder for anyone to sneak up on them. And Jack felt like it was the right place to go.

Besides, no way was he going to trust his sister's safety with a dude dressed like a _bunny_, even if he apparently could do something against the shadows. Anyone they'd run into so far was either dead or dangerous, and Rabbit Guy was clearly the latter considering how easily he'd taken down someone infected.

Jack straightened and tried a grin when Emma looked up at him, "Come on, I got an idea."


End file.
